Gallup, New Mexico

We were looking forward to staying at Red Rocks Park, near Gallup, New Mexico. Nestled in the shoulders of towering red sandstone cliffs, the campground offered spectacular scenery and access to great hiking and mountain biking trails. When we pulled in, the 200-site campground was empty. We pulled into a site with our rear window facing the beautiful scene:


Two more campers came in after us, and wouldn't you know, out of the entirety of the vast campground, they both settled in right near us. One almost directly behind us! Annoying! I know we're attractive and all, but please! Just a little space!

Anyway, the predominant and defining factor, by a huge margin, of our short stay in Gallup was wind. Wind so strong it rocked us with all jacks down, opening doors was difficult and scary, and the air was full of sand and grit. It was like being in a sand-blasting machine! Well, I imagine that it was like being in a sand-blasting machine - I haven't actually been in one... Anyway, it was brutal.

I took Toby for a walk anyway, but felt bad for him because the closer you got to the ground the higher the sand to air ratio. Also, we're back in goat-head territory - those pea-sized hardened and sharply pronged seeds. They pierce rubber and flesh. I pulled many out of Toby's poor tender foot pads. Thankfully they only grow near pavement, so as soon as we were a ways onto the trail it was just flying sand to deal with. And once we progressed up into the canyon, and gained some elevation, the wind became virtually sand-free. So, we had a nice hike in the middle, a little rough at the beginning and end.



In the morning we looked at the forecast. It was calm, but predicted to be even more windy for most of the day, and the following day was to be as windy but also very cold and snowing. So, we reluctantly chose to drive on the nicer day, to avoid driving to Sedona in blowing sleet and snow. Too bad, but I think it was the right choice. I know now that more than 5" of snow fell in Flagstaff, which is directly on our route.

So perhaps we'll find our way back to Gallup, and do justice to the hiking and biking opportunities there. Meanwhile, we've got an awesome week coming up, in Sedona, with our friends the Lawrences joining us! Very good times ahead!

Santa Fe Revisited

When we visited Santa Fe the last time we only spent one afternoon in the city, and left feeling that more time was needed. So this time around we spent four days, and still barely scratched the surface. What a great city and surrounding area.

We stayed at a KOA campground, based on good reviews and a promotional deal which reduced their usually too-high prices down to reasonable. After driving over from Tucumcari and gaining 3000' of altitude, (from 4100 to 7200') we pulled in and threaded our way into our narrow, but nice, site.

During our stay we walked around the city center and it's Plaza, and out Canyon Road, lined with countless galleries. We enjoyed fresh margaritas and tapas in a courtyard eatery. We took Toby on a nice hike up Apache Canyon in search of an elusive hot-spring. And I rode the Dale Ball trail system, where I learned what it's like to ride at 7500' without sufficient acclimatization (searing lungs; racing heart).

So, what follows is a photographic essay of our time in the excellent city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Remember that the photos will enlarge when clicked on.

Looking from the Plaza down to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis:

House margarita - rocks - salt:

Adobe (Faux-dobe?)

What an ass!

Have I gotten taller?

Side street off of Canyon Road:


One of many, many galleries:


Mailbox set in adobe, typical in this city:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,204?

Riding Dale Ball Trails:

Country houses, Santa Fe style:
Property line walls, Santa Fe style:

Hiking up Apache Canyon:

End of the trail:

Oklahoma City, Texas Panhandle, & Tucumcari

We bounced and lurched our way across the cement-slab highways of Arkansas and Oklahoma, pulling into the state park campground at Arcadia Lake, north of Oklahoma City. We were surprised to see long-term residents there, some of whom clearly don't take a great deal of pride in their wheeled abodes. Sort of an "almost homeless" landscaping scheme. But we scored a great site, very large and with water on two sides. The dogs loved this site because previous campers had apparently scattered food scraps far and wide, so Kinsey and Toby were constantly foraging for nasty old discarded food particles, and we were constantly scolding them. A vast mound of beans at the water's edge seemed particularly delectable. Vile beasts!

Facing west, we enjoyed the warm breeze coming off of the lake. But storms were a-brewin'...


...in the middle of the night we were awoken by blasts of much colder air blowing strongly through our open bedroom window. I got up and closed the window, and we were just drifting off to sleep again when a very loud, very clear voice issued forth from the sky! "Attention! Attention! Attention! Atencion! Atencion! Atencion! Strong thunderstorms are in the area. Expect high winds, lightning, and hail up to 2" in diameter..." The voice continued in Spanish and French, also advising those with boats to take them out of the water. Minutes later the wind ratcheted up to gale force, rain began lashing the windows, and the sky flashing with lightning. We didn't know what to do other than pull the covers over our heads and wait it out. That was as bad as it got for us, however. No hail, and no really close lightning strikes. The storm passed and calm returned. We found out later that we were very lucky. A couple hundred miles due south of us, in Dallas/Fort Worth, the same storm spawned violent tornadoes. We watched footage of tractor-trailers spinning through the air like plastic toys. Scary.

The next day was unsettled, rainy, windy and cold,(and the weather sucked too!) It was an indoor day. My aspirations of riding the park's mountain bike trails were washed away. We salvaged the day by going out to the movies to see Hunger Games. We both enjoyed the book very much, and were interested to see the characters brought to life. Not disappointed, either.

So, we extended our stay by a day, mostly so we could ride the mountain bike trail. Although not technically challenging - Oklahoma is about as mountainous as a Walmart parking lot, the trail was well built with turn-after-turn-after-turn, some nicely banked. It was possible to ride very fast, sometimes sliding around the corners on both wheels! I rode first to scope it out, and got a terrific workout. I returned to report that the trail was perfect for Nancy, so we both went out on the section that I thought she would enjoy best, and she did.


From Okla-storma City we continued westward and into the Texas panhandle. 20 miles south of the interstate was Pioneer Park, a county-run park and campground on the Salt Fork of the Red River. We arrived to find that we would be the only guests other than the camp hosts! The hosts, Austin and Patsy, couldn't have been any nicer. They were friendly and talkative without being intrusive. We were told that we could take any site, and that the dogs didn't need to be leashed! It was great, and only $10/night! We wished that we had more time to stay there.

We had planned to play golf at the local course, but the wind picked up, and the last thing I need is for the wind to carry my slice into the next green. So instead we found a county road (in this part of Texas a county road might require four-wheel-drive, which is OK because by Texas state law every citizen is required to drive a large American pickup truck)...


...took Toby and Kinsey for a walk and a ride respectively, then went to the Wellington Activity Center, where we enjoyed several games of racquetball (MW 2, NW 1). If any of our camping friends ever find themselves crossing the Texas panhandle on I-40, it's worth heading down to Wellington to stay at this nice little campground.

We made one more stop before arriving in Santa Fe. Heading northwest from Wellington we got buffeted by strong, gusty crosswinds, the worst we experienced in two years of towing. When we turned more directly west it wasn't so bad, and we arrived eventually at a dusty roadside campground in Tucumcari, New Mexico. This park was cheap and convenient, occupied only by a scattering of aged trailers and a school bus, which appeared to be the living quarters of the reclusive young hosts. It was quiet, and with a nice view of Tucumcari mountain. Not bad at all.

Arkansas

We camped at two locations in Arkansas, having absorbed through osmosis the notion that it was a nice place to spend time. First stop was at Lake Catharine State Park, near the resort & National Park city of Hot Springs. We backed up to within a dozen feet of the lake, and settled in to enjoy our stay. It was very warm with daytime temperatures in the mid-80's and around 60 at night. Paddling on the lake brought some relief from the heat, and we watched the banks for the scores of turtles basking in the sun. We collected them and made soup. (No we didn't)


A nice trail followed the lakeshore to a feeder stream with a very nice waterfall...


...with a nice clear pool into which Toby and I considered leaping. We both settled for wading in the cool waters.


One morning we drove to a trailhead north of Hot Springs, to go for a mountain-bike ride. The Cedar Glades trail network was marked up to show which trails were easiest, intermediate, and hardest. Nancy and I rode the easiest one, and Nancy got a taste of the relativity of these trail rating systems. An "easy" trail at one location might be more, or less, easy than an "easy" trail at another network. I think that this one was fairly rated, but it was certainly more challenging than several that Nancy has tackled. After we completed that loop I took off to check out the "most difficult" trail, which was a lot of fun. In keeping with the relativity theme, this one was not really technically harder than the "easy" trail, just longer and with a fairly long climb. Good trail system.

While getting geared up at the trailhead we were approached by a friendly lady who introduced herself as Janis Percefull, a local historian and author. She generously gave us three of her books: one a history of the Ouachita region of Arkansas, and the other two historical fiction about people living in Hot Springs. Check her out at www.arkansashistorystories.com.

After the ride we went into Hot Springs to grab some lunch, then checked out Hot Springs National Park.


HSNP is unusual in that it is mostly an urban park. The federal government took control of the region to protect the resource as its popularity grew, and insure that anyone who wanted to enjoy the restorative waters could do so. It is in partnership with a number of bathhouses where patrons would go to soak their troubles away, rheumatism and the like. The bathing craze peaked in the 1940's, and has been declining since. I think just one of the big bathhouses is still operating as such. The park service occupies one of these, which it preserves as a museum. The bathhouses are all beautifully built and maintained structures:



Early bathhouses were wooden, but they found that this left something to be desired in terms of sanitation, rot resistance, and fire resistance. When they all got all skeevy, rotted away or turned to ash, they were replaced by the luxurious stone and tile structures that still stand today.

This stained glass lets light into one of the men's bathing areas:


More stained glass in this beautiful "music room":


This contraption is in the ladies bathing area. Any guesses as to its purpose? Remember, this is a family show...


Our next stop was the town of Ozark, on the Arkansas River, just south of the Ozark mountains. We stayed at Corps of Engineers park Aux Arc (pronounced "ozark"), which was a nice state-park-like facility, and a bargain at $18/night. We again scored a waterfront site...


...with a view of this attractive bridge:


It was even hotter during our stay in Ozark, getting up over 90 during the day, and barely under 70 at night. Our air conditioner got a workout. We went for a paddle on a tributary of the Arkansas, seeking out what little wind there was. I tried out paddleboarding the Frenzy:


We took a drive up into the Ozark mountains where the roads turned narrow and twisty, a challenge with Gigantor's Q.E.II-like handling. An abundance of motorcyclist were out enjoying the mountain roads, and we pulled over many times to let them pass.


It was pretty up there, and a couple degrees cooler. We found a trailhead and took a short hike up to a rough stone house built under a rock overhang:


All along the trail grew Arkansas ground-cover: poison ivy. We had to watch every step to avoid brushing against its leaves. Also in abundance was some kind of wild hydrangea.

On our drive we crossed or followed several rivers with clean water of a beautiful green color:


Many people were paddling these rivers; self shuttling, or shuttled by an adventure outfitter company. So, a good experience in Arkansas. Assuming that it isn't always hotter than the surface of the sun, it would be nice to return to get to know it better.

Life on the Mississippi

Our westward migration took us from one music capitol to another; from Nashville to Memphis - country to blues. We camped on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, just far enough from the city to be away from the noise and light. We were actually in Arkansas at a campground which took a rare but admirable approach to their site plan, wherein the 5th-wheel trailers are in one section and the motorhomes in another. This way the 5th wheels are oriented so that their big rear windows face the river, and the motorhomes are oriented so that their big front windows face the river. All campgrounds with a view should be so arranged.

It was nice to sit by the river and watch the barges labor by. Most of these are actually many barges lashed together to form one enormous one. The largest we saw was 6 barges across and 9 barges long. So one big tugboat pushed 54 barges upriver!:


It was a quick drive to downtown Memphis from the campground, and we went in for music and barbecue, Memphis' other specialty.


Trolleys and ornate horse-drawn buggies carry passengers around the city streets:


We also noticed an abundance of showroom-shined American sedans and SUVs with giant rims and low-profile tires. They looked pretty silly - must be a Memphis thing. We walked around town...


...and ended up on Beale Street, the home of the Blues. Beale Street was hopping - like a mini French Quarter. Crying guitar and raspy vocals filled the air.


We went into B B King's blues club, his original establishment that spawned a series. There we ate pickle chips, pulled pork and BBQ ribs, which Nancy rated the best she's ever had. While we ate Patrick Dodd sang and wailed on his guitar, accompanied by his band, including his soulful keyboard player. Good stuff:


For a different blues experience, we stopped into Mr. Handy's Blues Hall (Juke Joint), where Dr. Feelgood Potts Band was playing some old-school Mississippi blues.


Notice the orange Home Depot 5-gallon bucket for tips. Dr. Feelgood is optimistic!


Not only did we sit in the shade of the awning, watching barges labor past on a hot afternoon, and suck down ribs dripping with barbecue sauce, but we got out for a good mountain bike ride. Tour de Wolf is a six mile mountainbike singletrack trail in Shelby Farms park, east of Memphis. It was a really fun trail for me, and a great one for Nancy as she grows and gains confidence in the sport.


Gentle hills meant that she could focus more on technique, gear shifting and picking lines. Turns out she's very good at picking a line when the trail gets ugly! Here she comes around a corner to find a series of diagonal roots, followed by a wood bridge over a mudhole, and she nailed it!


So, it was a great and relaxing few days in Memphis, on the muddy Mississippi. I leave you with this excerpt from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi:

"The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book--a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day."